Vibrant Design for The Hub

Urban Vision were commissioned by Salford City Council’s Community Health & Social Care Directorate to design an exciting new multi-agency community building in Broughton that will be a landmark feature, progressed by the Council and The Higher Broughton Partnership Ltd, as part of Higher Broughton’s Regeneration.

 The aspiration was for the building to become a central point for local services and community activity and is now known as ‘The Hub’.
The project required the skills of our multi-disciplined team of Architects, Landscape Architects, Structural, Mechanical and Electrical Engineers, Quantity Surveyors, Clerk of Works, Project Managers, CDM Coordinators and Planners.

The result is an exciting 3700m2 building that integrates a variety of community facilities including the local Library, Youth Centre, Trampoline Centre and Sure Start Children’s Centre. In addition the facility also provides new and enhanced accommodation for community rooms, a café, neighbourhood team offices, full Council Gateway services, and sports changing rooms for the adjacent sports pitches.

The site is at the heart of the Higher Broughton regeneration project and relates to the 6-phase overall masterplan which includes residential development and public open space.

The key principles of the development are not only to enable the relocation of a range of locally provided services, but to also:

• Be inclusive and accessible to all members of the community
• Be open to all local communities
• Focus on hard to reach target groups
• Adopt a customer-first service led approach
• Co-locate services to allow joined-up delivery
• Be a single gateway to all services
• Be a landmark for regeneration

The building itself is a contemporary, welcoming focal point for a new Higher Broughton. The design aspires to greet the Higher Broughton community with a clear statement of a brighter future. In detail, the spacious and open main entrance creates a welcoming gateway, with clear linkages to a centre that aims to encourage public gatherings and community activity. In general, the development proposal is thought to inspire creativity, give pleasure, and will hopefully infuse both visitors and occupants with a sense of event and pride in a new local asset.

The Hub is now in the final stages of completion and is scheduled to be handed over in stages over the summer months with everybody being fully functioning by October 2011.